LETTER: Horse slaughter is inhumane and unnecessary

Yet another pathetic lie and attack of our constitutional rights by another self-righteous arrogant tyrant. This letter is filled with incorrect information and a complete disregard for the freedoms and values this country was built upon-of course-the author is not a US citizen-so she really has no right to any input for this country…FACT: horse slaughter is no more “inhumane” than any other species slaughtered-it is the inspectors job to insure animals slaughtered are humanely treated and have authority to stop a plant if animals are mistreated…FACT: these “videos” posted show only what the poster wants to show you-NOT the truth-just because they show a couple of horses that have to be shot a second time in NO way means that is the norm-infact, you can count on that ALL the other horses were killed on the first shot or they would have posted it in the video…incidentally, the latest videos put on by the ARs show completely the opposit that they say-the horses were ALL in very good shape, VERY calm and content, and were NOT thrashing around and spooked when in the “kill box”-unlike what they claim. FACT: horses are PRIVATE personal property-NOT the property of the public-and people who own them have the right to breed and sell them to who ever they want-meat buyers included. FACT: horsemeat has had FEWER drug residue violations than any other meat-nearly ALL drugs given to horses are the exact same as what cattle and other species get-and have withdrawal times…as for the argument of “bute”-very few horses are actually given this-I have had dozens of horses and only used it once-other breeders I know very seldom use it-and it has been proven to be eliminated from the horses system within a few days-if people have to use it so often as the anti-slaughter crowd rants about, their horses should be taken from them and they shouldnt be allowed to own horses if their horses are in such pain that they continually use it (this is alie perpetuated by them) The author has every right to do with HER horses as she wants…however, she has NO RIGHT to tell ANYONE ELSE what they may or may not do with THEIR horses-her insinuation that anyone who is pro slaughter is heartless shows her childish and self-righteous way of thinking….So-let the deluge of comments from the other anti slaughter tyrants begin…just remember that their BIASED claims can ALL be refuted…it is sad that there are so many people in this country that feel their opinions is above the constitutional rights of US citizens-I have no respect for these people whatsoever and will not waste my time on them.

I was born and raised on a small dairy and crop farm in central Ohio and completely agree with the author of this article. As a farmer, I am tired of other “farmers” moaning all of the time about being picked on or having their rights taken away. I was raised to respect the animals we had on the farm and we never sent horses to slaughter. While horses are livestock they aren’t meat animals. The one commenter above must not be a real farmer and is clearly not a horse owner. I have had and been around horses all of my life and almost every one of them has gotten bute at one point. All get dewormers. Both drugs are banned. Meaning, you can NEVER use them on an animal sent for food no matter when it happened. Not a single drug approved for horses is approved for horses sent to slaughter. I suggest the one commenter sit down and relax and take some time to reflect what really makes him angry. It is time to ban horse slaughter! We shouldn’t be taking our limited number of slaughterhouse inspectors for our own food out of the process so they can work in foreign owned slaughterhouses. As a tea party supporter that is what makes me mad. I don’t want my tax dollars going to help prop up a foreign industry. If we have money it should go to helping American industries.

We do need horse processing plants up and running here in the USA again, there is a need for this. Iam a horse owner here in OHIO and I have never ever given any of my horses BUTE.It is also a proven faact that Bute dose not stay in the system for ever like the anti’s would like you all to think, every chemical has a withdraw period.Thay also would like us all tp think that horses should not be used as food because the are given wormers,,seriously,so are cattle,sheep,pigs,goats and every other form of livestock that are used for food.If you don’t want to send your horse to slaughter then don’t,but stop telling others they can’t and stop spreading lies about how bad horse meat is for us. You all that are against horse slaughter, how bout we round up all the unwanted horses and send them to your house, you can care for them with your own money, how bout that. regular livestock owners like myself don’t get donations to care for our animals,but we care for them,n love them anyway. When you start paying for my horses feed aand vet care then you can tell me weather i can send it to slaughter or not, what I choose is my buisness, what someone else chooses is thier buisness.

One more thang, horses are livestock, not pets, breeding has gone way down, want proof go to any AQHA or APHA web sight.

The fact that the FDA has stated that they have NOT tested for bute in horses proves that there is a WITHDRAWL period for it. Funny thing about wormers, cattle are GIVEN THE EXACT same dewormer that a horse is given and IT was a withdrawl time. NOW isn’t that funny. Im a HORSE owner and have been since I was 12, i am 36. I have rodeoed, shown, have DONE it all. have worked at a slaughter house per requirement for college, I have seen it. 95% of the horses that go thru the slaughter line are NOT abused, scared etc. Another false lie that some like to tell you is that horses FEAR death and the smell of blood. If that was true then pray tell WHY would my horses and friends horses, stand and watch a steer being butchered or a deer gutted WITHIN touching distance, not move, or bat an eye or freak out. WHY ? because they DO NOT fear the smell of death or blood. What they do fear is that they can’t get their feet. So the movement of what looks like a horse is freaking out because “oh my god im gonna die” is because the horse can’t get his feeting.
Im sick and tired of ppl telling others that you can’t do this or you can’t do that.
NOW if the IRS considers the horse to be LIVESTOCK, and the USDA does as well, WHy can’t everyone else, OH thats right they live in a fairy tale land where the pretty ponies never get sick or die.

I have owned lots of horses over the yrs, and I ONLY deworm when fecals tell me to, I have a 9 yr old horse that has NEVER EVER needed to be dewormed, and ONLY one horse in all of my 36 yrs of life have ever gotten bute.
The fda told me that ALL banned drugs DO IN FACT have a withdrawl time , your vet can access a website offered by them and they give all withdrawl times for ALL drugs including those that are banned.

Horses are not pets. Pets are animals that can be brought inside your house. If someone chooses to treat *their* horse as a pet, nobody is going to try to make them do otherwise. Horses are big animals that can kill you accidentally in a second without meaning to. What anyone chooses to do with any animal they legally own should not be anyone else’s business.

Since the closure of the US horse slaughtering plants the pro slaughter groups have spent millions of dollars on paid lobbyists and propaganda in an effort to re-open slaughter facilities. They achieved a small victory in November when a few politicians held a closed door session and removed language from the 2012 Agriculture Appropriations Bill that would have continued to ban funding for USDA inspectors in horse slaughtering plants. This decision was based on misinformation provided by various pro slaughter and special interest groups.

Due to economic conditions every small animal rescue in this country has experienced a significant increase in abandonment and neglect cases. However, pro horse slaughter articles cite the closure of the US slaughter plants as the sole reason for equine cases. Horse owners still have the option to sell and ship to slaughter but approximately the same number of American horses have been slaughtered each year since the US plants were closed as when the plants were open. Since the slaughter option is still available, it’s ridiculous to assume that owners are starving and abandoning horses because of the location of slaughter plants. If a true relationship existed between slaughter and the number of abuse/neglect cases, the number of horses slaughtered would have significantly increased while the number of abandonment and abuse cases would have decreased.

Pro slaughter groups claim that opening plants in the US will create jobs and increase tax revenue. The last three plants in the US, all foreign owned, employed less than 200 people in low-paying positions with the majority of the workers proven to be undocumented. In one year the Beltex plant in Texas generated millions in income but paid a total of $5 in federal income taxes. This was largely due to the tax benefits offered to foreign owned corporations which is why they operated plants in the US as opposed to their own countries. The cost to the communities in which these plants resided was astronomical. Regardless of EPA oversight, regulations continued to be ignored. The plants were repeatedly charged with wastewater violations. In some areas this illegal activity caused blood products to seep into homes. The same violations take place at the Canadian slaughter plants one of which was recently closed after it was found to be illegally dumping truckloads of blood into a river. In every area in which a horse slaughtering plant existed, increases in crime, including stolen horse cases, and decreases in property values occurred.

Those in favor of slaughtering horses claim that horse flesh is safe to consume. This may have been true in the 1920’s and 1930’s before the widespread use of equine medications became commonplace. Currently, we give our horses numerous medications to keep them healthy and comfortable. One of the most regularly used medications is Phenylbutazone (bute). Bute, an NSAID, is as common to equines as aspirin is to humans. At one time this drug was prescribed to humans but was pulled from the market after causing significant health detriments including deaths due to aplastic anemia. While the US plants tested for bute, of the 140,000 horses slaughtered in 2005 only 318 samples were taken. Of these, 10% were positive for bute. More frightening is the fact that the samples were tested using the ELISA method which is a urine based test. There is no research to show how long bute or its many metabolites remain in muscle tissue which is precisely why the FDA completely bans this product from use in food producing animals including cattle. Even pet food manufacturers understand the hazards of bute which is why in the 1970’s they ceased using horse meat in their products.

Other often used arguments claim that domestic slaughter is needed in order to set a minimum value for horses and to provide an outlet for old, sick and crippled horses. These arguments are based on an opinion that some owners, who value quantity over quality, and irresponsibility over doing the right thing, should be rewarded for producing a product which has no real marketable value. In other words, they want a set financial reward for producing an unwanted or unmarketable product instead of having to incur a cost to dispose of the product. Every industry relies on demand to price a product but the pro slaughter minority subset of the equine industry wants a base price set on supply. The ‘old, sick, and crippled’ argument is negated by the consistent reporting by the USDA that nearly 95% of horses slaughtered in the US were young and in good condition.

The last of the most often used pro slaughter arguments relates to the cost of humane euthanasia and disposal of horses. The cost of such averages $350. This amount is less than the monthly cost at a typical boarding facility and is not much more than the cost to euthanize and cremate a canine. Even the cost of a low quality, run of the mill saddle exceeds the cost of euthanasia and disposal.

Slaughter is not a humane death for horses. The USDA provided proof of this when they obliged a FOIA request for documented violations which occurred at the Beltex plant in Texas from January to November of 2005. This report is over 900 pages long and cites violations ranging from issues with transporting and incomplete documentation to the inhumane activities observed throughout the slaughter process which included horses still functioning and able to feel pain when bled out and vivisected.

With animal ownership comes the responsibility to provide food, water, safe shelter, and a humane death. Common sense dictates that the larger the animal, the greater the costs. One cost that none of should have to incur is the cost of providing USDA inspectors in horse slaughtering plants. If the taxpayer funded USDA can spare millions of dollars, this money should be used to inspect facilities that produce or import products that Americans consume, not toxic products sold to unsuspecting foreign markets.

Animal Advocates of Michigan

The death of common sense will most certainly always bring with it more “regulation”. When an industry loses its’ ability to self regulate, it will attract the attention of the socio-political busy bodies who love to ram their view points down everyone elses’ throats. The “regulation” is the price the rest of us will ultimately pay for irresponsibly ownership and that goes for anyone who owns livestock.

There is sometimes a HUGE conflict of interest between FDA, USDA and public health. We know that.

The whole bute thing….I would like to see some cites either way. I do know from horse showing that horses that were regularly buted were only withdrawn for 48 hours before the possibility of testing. That would tell me that it is not detectable via a urine test after 48 hours. There are very few compounds that stay in the body forever. The liver is very good at it’s job.

What is this world coming too. All the polls say NO to horse slaughter in the USA not in my backyard horses are not raised for food. What is wrong with this picture. Do people have any feelings anymore for anything!!!!

The ban being lifted on horses processing was not a closed backroom deal.it was in the 2012 bill. This 2012 bill was despalyed on c-span and c-span2. the agricultrue bill that was part of the 2012 bill was broken down and discussed befor it was voted on. Anyone with dish network or direct tv could of watched this, i did. This was also allover the internet before it was sent to congress or the senate.To say this was a backroom, behind closed door deal is just not true.The anti’s hd thier petition going around trying to stop this from being passed so did our side.Everyone knew about the riders and lack of.There is a reason this passed and the reason is because it is so very needed in the USA again.Right now dr.Temple Grandin is working on planse for a state of the art equine processing plant for the state of Wy.but you all know that already, this has also been going around the internet.This is going to happen,you do not have to take your animals to slaughter if you choose not to.

Yes it was back room, you just do not see that cause it went your way, the confrence group removed it, not a full vote on it the defunding stuff. Dr. Grandin has said publicly she is not working with any body to build a new plant, and since there are no permits, try again. Oh dont tell anyone we know where it is at, and WY is not it, and neither is WA, remeber me, I am the one who said, my job gives me the ability to talk to people and not say who. So guess again, you have 47 more states, oh nope take out TX IL and CA, and I thnk FL, so lets see 43, and since I know which one and I am anti slaughter hows that make all you little people feel, and you have not won yet, it will get banned, and i am going to ask again.
What are all you going to do when you can no longer ship them to slaughter over the borders, and you can not slaughter here? What then????

I don’t agree nor support the Horse Processin plants in this Country. The Horse is Americas animal..sadly this is a nessicery evil. If you have horses don’t send em.. if you like horses and don’t want to see them killed; im sorry its a nessicery evil we all have to just be happy with. I would much rather a horse be put out of it’s misery then suffer in a home to which he/she cannot be taken care of… Thank You and God Bless you all… R.I.P. to all the horses who have been slaughtered and to those who suffer in homes that they dont have owners who care… God Bless!

To the Anti-Slaughter People:
Last year went sent about 100,000 horses to slaughter (i.e. used as meat). The way I understand the slaughter on horses ban is that NO horses will be allowed to be exported from this country or slaughtered in this country. So correct me if I am wrong but doesn’t that leave 100,000 unwanted horses without homes?
So if the average horse needs:
$300 for it care per mont…h (feed, farrier, vet, land for grass/hay, feed, wormer, etc).
x 12 months = $3,600 per horse per yr.
*now we can look at the rescue pages and know that some horses with health problems will need more $ then this so I shot low.
Okay so…
100,000 horses
x $3,600
= 360 MILLION dollars per year to care for these horses.
My sincere question is WHO is or can pay for this. Let’s say that 2012 is the “Year of the Horse.” What is the PLAN! What alternatives can handle this in 1 year. I think it is critical that you all develop a crisis plan prior to legislating for change.
Because I hate to be negative but the last time you lobbied for and got a result it was a HOT MESS! The plants shut down without warning. Horses were taken to TX rejected, driven to IL and rejected, then taken god knows where or dumped in people’s pastures. I talked to one old man that had a load of horses dumped in his pasture. Then the entire market crashed causing horses to lose value. Animals that have value are treated better.
So please someone anyone answer the question if 2012 is the year of the horse how many homes do you have lined up? Who has an extra 360 million lying around to cough up?
Now I love horses. I have had the same horse sense I was 10 and he was 2. I am currently teaching my children to ride on him. I swear to you I don’t want any horse ever to go to slaughter. We can all agree we don’t want to see horses suffer. You don’t want them to be slaughtered I don’t want them to starve.

to the pro-slaughterer Daphne Watson…YOU just don’t get it do YOU?? You think you are all smarty pants with your childish comments. Why is it SO hard for you to understand that the FDA doesn’t give a hoot about you and most certainly want to cover their own back ‘door’ with their comments at this time. They’ll tell any pro-slaughterer anything they want to hear because they’re trying to protect themselves.
Horses are not intended as a food animal PERIOD. If you cannot afford to humanely end your horses life when necessary, DON’T have one. Animals have rights to be treated with respect and dignity and a humane death, not be gutted while still alive. How sick is that?? All this is in the name of ECONOMICS! So if the government decides that in the name of economics, it is better to serve up FIDO or FIFI than give them an humane euthanasia, would you eat them too?? Why are we killing our horses… so other countries can’t benefit? And most breeders are the worst. They overbreed and overbreed looking for the perfect color or conformation and throw foals away like a cheap suit. What is wrong with people?? We anti-horse-slaughterers will continue to fight you hoof and tooth until we have all the horse kill buyers and slaughterhouses out of a job.

Plain and simple. Pro Slaughter activists are losers. They want someone else to pay for their horse when it is no longer useful to them. However, unfortunately, if we ALLOW them to succeed, we AMERICA will be paying for them. I bet if we took a poll on this group they are the ones NOT PAYING CHILD SUPPORT. And yes, sorry i have to be that BLUNT. But, the people i have met during this debate are exactly those type of people. They made their bed, they need to LIE in it!

No matter what it takes Long live the horses! And they are WORTH SAVING, every last one of them.

Now how can we have champion horses if we don’t feed them? also Dr. grandin is in the process of designing a state of the art equin processing plant for the state of WY. You all know this it has been going around the internet for weeks now,ive seen it posten on alot of fb pages,pro and anti. both. The anti’s droped the ball, you all were to buisy sending hate mail and bashing Sue wallis. You are not wanting to use your tax dollars to fund horse processing, but you think we should use our tax dollars to fund the care of the so-called wild mustangs till the day they die,you all think its fine to take the BLM to court every time they turn around costing us more of our tax dollars. You think that we should use our tax dollare to fund HSUS and thier horse rescues they want to bulid. This in my opinion is a wast of our money, processing horses for food is not.

Daphne,,these anti’s are just showing thier true colors and people will soon understand what they are truly all about.Let them keep talking,it just helps our side and lets others know just how much these people don’t know about livestock or horses in general.

I have talked to alot of people and they do not want slaughter plants back in the USA and will not eat horsemeat. They were not raised to eat they are companions and friends buddies and they do have feelings go see War Horse and you will see. Slaughter is cruel inhumane and a they do not deserve to die that way, why can’t they have their life they have earned it in many ways!!

I will be the voices of the horses that don’t have one! NO to horse slaughter it is inhumane and cruel and you people that have horses and say we need slaughter have no feelings. There is always a home for them and people that really care about them. NO TO HORSE SLAUGHTER!!!!

Daphne… Wow, it about all I can say. So bitter and apparently so young, what a shame. Be that as it may… Let’s think for a minute about deregulation since the “farmers” amoung you here seem to think it’s wonderful. What I think of is the Savings and Loan debacle in the 80’s. I think of the complete thrashing the 90’s took thanks to all the Computer Guru’s inflating claims on the Dot Commers… I think of the Housing Bubble and total collapse of the housing market. I also think of BP/Gulf Oil Spill along with thinking of the Fracking going on right now out west and wondering when Yellowstone is going to erupt and make this conversation a totally mute point.

The problem being that Man is, in a lot of cases, easy corruptable, greedy, immoral and lacking ethics. It makes some among us come up with some really dumb ideas and in turn make bad decisions. Therefore, regulations are put in place so nobody hurts themselves, or others, in their process of life. Clearly, they’re not always effective, but at least the thought is there…

That being said, we can easily see the need for extending some protection into our every day lives in the form of Property Law. There are a lot of laws that have to do with property. They say you can’t just dump your appliances at the side of the road when you remodel your kitchen, because, guess what? People would!!! They say it’s illegal to burn your house down to collect insurance money – because…. All together now – people WOULD. So, we can’t make people smart but we can give them some boundaries. We can also do that for the animals. It should not be permitted to freely and inhumanely abuse and slaughter horses. There are already plenty of laws on the books protecting their welfare, let’s protect their lives!! They clearly need it, based on the comments on this article. Why is it perfectly acceptable to have to be responsible for your refrigerator but ridiculous to be expected to be responsible for an animal which you procured, be it by purchase, gift or creation? You’re not concerned about being told what to do with some items but are very concerned about others? I’d think you’d want to be more concerned about a life than a frig, but maybe you really like your beer?

As far as what to do with the horses… Let’s see. I’ve listed about 10 options above. I’d also venture a guess that when the slaughter market is finally closed people are actually going to think about the lives they create a little more since they won’t have easy access to (or reward for) making them disappear. I’d hope that if we staggered the law in and allowed time for the animals in the pipeline at the time to be either rescued or, sadly, slaughtered, we’d level the playing field for responsible ownership. When rescues aren’t actively funding auction (ie: slaughter) rescues, there’d be plenty of resources available to deal with the TRUE rescue cases, people who have hit hard times, etc.

Why does the pro-slaughter sect cling so fiercely to the idea that we MUST allow the slaughter of horses in order to be good stewards? We don’t. You can soften your stance, it’s ok. We don’t HAVE TO KILL THEM!! The sky will not fall and it won’t solve the problems plaguing the markets! That theology is completely false, is has no basis in fact and we could easily find better ways to deal with our industry if we were not caught in the perpetual debate about slaughter! It’s totally redundant and does nothing to help the Equine Industry as whole or the equines specifically.

The time is now. Let’s just do it. We’ve never given it a try and it really deserves at least a try. Let’s end slaughter and support and nurture our Equine Industry back to good health, just like we do with the victims of neglect and starvation. The horses never look back, neither should we…

Boy if you listen to Slaughter House Sue Wallis one would think that every Native American tribe in the US wants horse slaughter. But read this article and see the truth of how the horse is respected.We all should take lessons from our Native American citizens.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/01/06/american-indians-offer-programs-for-horses-that-treat-the-sacred-animals-as-a-way-of-life-70636

Well as always, a short period of time and it breaks down to the pro slaughter side yelling, ranting, and well speaking for itself, just as one of their leadrs did the other night, as I recall the moderator had to yell over top of that person to get them to use respect for the other side. It is the big bully mentality. So again, since as of yet, I have not seen the answer to this, just what are you all going to do when the following happen, 1. The defunding lanuage gets put back in, 70% of americans are opposed to horse slaughter, election year. 2. We pass a ban on horse slaughter her, plus export ban? ??What are you all that would be you breeders going to do with those extra horses? You see then we rescues, please go read what that means in Websters, then no longer have to be over stressed, your horse that doesn’d sell, guess what, I love this, it goes home from the auction with you, those starved, dumped, unwanted horses, well we all know the story there. So lets ask again all you pro’s, what are you going to do when it is banned for good, not here, not export, nada, zip no how no way. what??? And for the record your civil right to do what you want comes with a price, it is called be responsible, when you are not, well the Govt, steps in and says, bad child, makes rules, and since you all cant see to play nice, you will soon see those rules. If I was you, since all those rescues have the right to refuse, you might want to be nice, they may say, no, I am not helping you, you never know!!!!

I love it how you all say my heart is COLD. SO im to take in as many horses as I can without the money to feed the extra horses. correct is that you way of thinking.
the 7 horses i have and own are well taken care of. I have NO ROOM for anymore. Just because my eyes are OPEN and are not closed like yours are is the differnce between us. Sorry IF I don’t type as well as you all do, my computer thinks my spell check is a virus and will not let it do anything, and i tend to type faster then my fingers can keep up. DON”T LIKE it Don’t read it.

I love it how you all attack me and surpising no one else. funny how that works, either you hate me, or are jealous that I own horses and they are well cared for OR you hate me because I have breed and show horses.
If you all think that the horses needed saved, then you better hook up them trailers and go find ALL THE FREE, unwanted horses out there because you have NO DAM solutions on how to fix the MESS you started in the first place. YES thats right, you all anti’s shut down slaughter, and now horses have NO VALUE, are being staved , negleclted and abused because if their owners take them to the sale barn , they THE OWNERS end up paying the sale barn to sell their horses. GEE and you wonder why we are pissed.

Just wanted to clarify the statement about putting large appliances on the curb site. Most areas have certain days of the year where people can do this, other areas have stickers that must be purchased if leaving a large appliance for pick up, some require that the home owner call and actually arrange a specific day for pickup. So no you cannot legally just put the old stove out on the curb any old time you like. The neighbours do not want to see this and that is why laws have been put into place. In most areas you can receive a fine for doing so. In other words the owner has to be responsible for its disposal and pays for it either through the purchase of the sticker or through the taxes they pay.

For all those pro’s out there that think slaughter sets the bottom dollar think again. Our economy has tanked just like the US has. We have three slaughter houses up and running here in Canada and the price for horses here is not a whole hell of a lot compared to what you use to get. You’d be lucky to get $700 for a well broke horse at an auction. I have gone to many local auctions and horses sell for as low as 50 bucks and no higher then maybe $800 if your trying to outbid the KB. The economy sets the price and so does supply and demand the more there are the less it cost to buy one. The less there are the more it cost to purchase one. Simple economics people. Slaughter is an outlet for people to dump their responsibilities and extra stock. If you cant afford to take responsibility for a large animal in life and death you shouldnt have one. I own two horses and one was rescued from slaughter a healthy and sane three year old registered solid paint. There goes their old lame and crippled argument out the window. Slaughter is not the answer. SAY NO TO SLAUGHTER!!!! Very good letter Tanja. Im going to see my horses now for some therapy time Away from all this talk of horse slaughter. So glad mine will be loved forever and never have to worry about getting shipped for slaughter. Have a good day all

Just called SWACO Solid Waste Authority of Ohio and spoke with a very nice young lady called Ashley and I was told that you CANNOT just leave large appliances out at the curb for pickup. You must call a Bulk pick up company to have your large appliances picked up. So Daphne if you have a garbage company that does that service I would be using it because chances are it will not last long. Most municipal dumps now charge fees for dumping off large appliances as well. No free lunch any longer for most of the country.

well gee then I guess RUMPKE and Waste management and the one I currently use are ALL against the law now are they not. I THINK rumpke has been in the trash business for over 30 plus yrs and they will STILL pick up large applicance like stoves, frigs (IF the feron is taken out), small freezers if they are sat beside the trash can IF that customer has a large pickup on their contract. Same with the company I use now, and they have been in business for 10 yrs. Hell just last week rumpke picked up my neighbors stove and the neighbor behind me frig that my hubby helped take out the feron from. GUESS they were wrong in doing it. FUNNY thing when you DON”T LIVE IN OHIO and try to tell us who do and have been here for YRS, actually KNOW THE PERSON IN CHARGE at rumpkee and tell us that we can do just that. DO NOT try to best me because you WILL NOT and CAN NOT win.

Let me just add that I would say that the 70% against horse slaughter is what we see here too. Say no to horse slaughter!

Anyone who thinks this is OK, is either mentally unbalanced or is planning on making money from it.

NO TO HORSE SLAUGHTER FOREVER WHERE ARE YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA

There is only one place in the world where they have truly humane euthanasia for slaughter…that is in Sweden and Switzerland. Their animals don’t have a chance to feel the pain our animals do here in North America. Maybe if we had a slaughter house like they do that is completely humane, where the animals have a last bath, are fed and watered until it is their turn to walk the line, and have the peaceful passing that they should be allowed to have, then I wouldn’t be opposed to slaughter of any animal. I won’t lie and say I’m a vegan cause I do eat meat, I just feel guilt over the way the animal had to go for me to have a meal. I pray for the life of that animal before I consume my meal and offer up a thanks to them for passing so that I may sustain nourishment. Seriously, pro or anti, it doesn’t matter. We should all be ashamed of our respective countries for making us so bloody greedy that we would allow this to go on. Until we can provide that humane passing for the horses and other animals, we shouldn’t be allowed to slaughter them PERIOD.

I wouldn’t believe what was on AQHA website on a bet. They encourage over breeding and registering foals to fill their coffers. The AQHA along with the Thoroughbred industry hires Lobbying firms to work against any bills introduced in congress that will ban horse slaughter such as H.R.2966 and S.1176. The racing industry so far has paid a lobbying firm $50,000.00 to work against both of these bills. Alpine Group, INC Senate ID 1171-1092 and House ID 317490076 is the one the The National Thoroughbred Racing Association and one other one is $9000.00 paid by Beltex senate ID 6848-455 and House ID 316030029 which was one of the plants shutdown in 2007. This is one of the plants that polluted a whole town when it was shut down and now it is slobbering to start killing our horses again. Neither of these two slaughter plants paid any taxes or fines the whole time they were in operation.

ok for one- I DON”T TAKE IN HORSES< I RAISE THEM. The last horse I took in was a long yearling from a lady who gave him to me. he is a pmu foal. He is NOW a 9 yr old gelding that LOVES his job, roping cattle and running thru a obstacle course while hubbys shoots a gun. (mounted shooting)
I have 7 horses, NONE OF WHICH leave me farm UNLESS there is a buyer that will pay their price. My horses are appraised from 3500.00 to 25,000.00 THEY ONlY leave if the buyer has the CASH. My next foal WILL BE in 2013. making my horses total to 8. OMG but DON"T you dare tell me that I can't buy any, sell any and make money with my horses. THEY ARE MINE and you my dear anti's are NOT allowed to buy them or even THINK about it.
I have no idea where you think I throw my horses away when im done with them, because frankley they stay at the farm for life or IF someone has the CASH for the price they are listed for. ALL MY HORSES have a price. unlike you if someone has the cash for the price they are appraised for then by golly SEE YA.

So Daphne Why are you pushing for horse slaughter and plants to go up here in the USA when there are soooooo many people against it. Horses are our friends companions and buddies why would we want them all slaughtered for people to eat. Did you answer Maries question to you?

By the way I have talked to so many people that don’t know about horse slaughter and they are horrified about it when I tell them.

okay so I got one for all of you, I hear all the time from the pro slaughter side, what are you going to with all the extra horses, your rescues are full, you pastures are full. Any of you have a drunk or a codependant person in you life, it is all your fault, it is all you fix it, never mind they broke it, you still are suppose to fix it. (don’t answer that is was just a ??), so here it is, heard of tough love?? My ? is this, right back at you pro slaughter person, what are you going to do when we ban slaughter, when you have done pissed off every single one of those bleeding hearts, who have a not a clue, with the rest of the long list of insults you have slung in such a short time. Just what are you going to do with them, you bred them, you foaled them, you raised them till they got put in the toss away list, not us, not the rescues, not the reserves, not the shelters, YOU, so what are you going to do with them? Ever heard the expression, your baby rock it, your horse feed it!

So if there is no horse slaughter, people like my neighbors will keep “rescuing” free horses that others can no longer keep (due to job loss, health, or possibly just stupidity). They have many horses turned out in the woods behind their house slowly starving to death while their kids ride them until they can’t go anymore…and they brag how much they love these horses…how they rescued them, and have no reason to change a thing when offered advice for properly feeding them. These people are very sad when the horses become ill.
Unfortunately no one from our humane society seems to realize the difference between the bones sticking out on top of a dairy cow and the bones sticking out on top of a horse.

oh and someone asked for proof of where ppl eat horse meat legally in the US. well lets see, i can name about 5 ppl in OR that do, I DO as my family does, , My friends family does(this is where I get my horse meat from. he GIVES it to me, so he is within the law), I know of about 30 more ppl that eat horse meat. I know of 2 local butcher shops that have stated they WILL carry horse meat in their shops. IT is LEGAL to eat horse meat ANYWHERE in the usa, what is illegal is to sell it YET. see key word YET.
You ask us(the pro side) what we are gonna do, You are the ones that created this mess. YEP you did it. You banned slaughter, so instead of ppl selling that horse for 300 at the sale barn, they have to sell it for 50 dollars, and then half the time the KB doesn’t want it cause they would not make anything on said horse. There are FAR more ppl out there that are for slaughter then against because they see the big picture. 100,000 unwanted horses with no where to go, rescues are full, not enough homes, these horses have to go somewhere, and I know of lots of ppl that can load up the loose horses they come across, or the sale barns that have horses in their pens because they were a no sale and NO ONE wants them,. We can ship them ALL to your guys houses so YOU can take care of them.
NO ONE and I mean NO ONE should tell another person what they can or can’t do with their property, unless they are abusing, or neglecting them. Taking them to a sale barn to sell, or selling the directly to the slaughter house is NOT abusing or neglecting them. I would rather see horses being utlized instead of just sitting and starving or rotting in the ground.

Yes you can eat it but you cannot sell it legally. That was my point.

“I can help my friend kill his horse” your own words! Horse Killer and Horse Eater! Cold heart indeed.

welll duhhh . so americans ARE eating horse meat legally. You said they are NOT. But they are.
and yes i do help my friend process his horses, because he DOESN”T see them as pets, they are MEAT to him. he raises a herd of 10 horses. They range in age from weanling to 5 yr olds. His 5 yr olds are the ones he processes. There is NOTHING wrong with him doing this. he also raises beef. He sees horses as LIVESTOCK to eat, not to play pretty pony with. He calls me, i go over, Ihold the horse, he shoots ONE TIME in the head. I help him hang, process the horse. NOT a dam thing wrong with that at all. NONE of his horses are given anything, they are NOT touched, they are raised just for his freezer. NOT a dam thing wrong with that at all.

Here is the bottom line.

The purpose of horse slaughter is to produce horse meat. People who sell horses to slaughter to it to make money. This is not about altruism.

There is not a horse owner in American who could not decide this afternoon to sell his horse at auction for x pennies on the pound knowing that that horse would go to slaughter. Of perhaps some of you with connections to kill buyers could sell your horses directly to kill buyers. That happens everywhere. Even if horse slaughter plants open in the U. S. there are no laws that prevent U. S. horses ending up in Mexican or Canadian slaughter plants. Kill buyers usually take them to the closest facility or perhaps the one where they will be hassled the least.

Anyone one of you who wants to slaughter a horse you own are not prohibited from doing that. In fact, why not just gather them all up. Pool your resources and rent a truck to deliver them to Mexico or Canada?

You know why. Because many of the countries who used to accept U. S. horse meat now know that the USDA stamp certifying that the meat is safe is false.

Daphne, I do not know why you think you are more of an expert on food safety than the FDA or that the scientists who sit at tables together to make rules for the safety of their country’s citizens about what can or cannot have been administered to the animal, but I know you obsessed with information that is irrelevant with regard to the legal requirements on horse meat imported by countries in the EU and individual countries such as Italy that have formerly imported horse meat. A stamp bearing the words Inspected and Approved by Daphne Watson is unlikely to be accepted by Ireland, England, Germany, etc. It might, however, work in some markets—not just in any involving Interstate or International commerce.

The fact that there are still horses not being properly cared for despite the existence of horse slaughter, just underscores the fact that the two are not related despite having been used as a rationalization for the existence of horse slaughter by slightly guilty feeling people who sent horses to this fate.

The equine welfare problems we have are due in large part to the refusal of the horse commodity market to recognize that they are creating more horses than there is a demand for. Anytime this happens in any market it makes prices fall. You produce too much of something the consumer doesn’t need or want, well you lose money and eat your lunch.

You can’t use the argument that Quarter Horses aren’t sound after the age of 7 because there is no horse slaughter because there is no cause effect relationship. These horses are less sound than they used to be because too many people are breeding them and breeding to many of them without understanding how to breed for specific traits or if you breed for one trait you might weaken another. So these breeders of horses no one will buy because the breeders didn’t know what they were doing won’t bring any money. Who’s fault is that? The breeders. Who should have to pay for that? The breeders. Lets find the people breeding the horses that keep breaking down, and let pay breeding fees to the rescues that are going to have to take these horses in.

Perhaps what we need are stronger regulations governing the breeding of horses. In this area, breeders have cut back production tremendously because there is no market. They have business sense, and have been in the horse business for generations.

It is not just the horse industry that is in trouble. So many people are struggling. They have gone bankrupt, lost their homes, their jobs, their health from the stress of it. The amount of human suffering in this economy cannot be underestimated. The only way to have a healthy horse market is for there to be healthy, employed people, or healthy people with an income source to take care of our horses.

Animal slaughter is for food production. Period. If the meat produced is tainted with substances harmful to human health, it should not be produced in the first place. It is unethical to produce and sell meat that we know there is evidence to suggest that a certain number of individuals, particularly children, will develop disabling and deadly illnesses if they consume this meat. Therefore, it is unethical to advocate for the production of meat that will disable and kill certain members of the population based on what is known about these substances and their metabolites within the human body.

Animal slaughter is not an answer to animal welfare issues. Horse slaughter is not a solution to horse welfare problems.

Horse slaughter is not a solution to an equine welfare problem.

I will be the voices of our horses and I say NO TO HORSE SLAUGHTER it is cruel and inhumane and never will be humane for horses. Horsemeat is toxic and not good for humans to eat they were not raised to eat for dinner!!!!!!!

Roulette. I believe that you believe what you are saying about bute is accurate, but the research I have read does not support that that phenylbutazone or it’s metabolite (the chemical compound it becomes after being absorbed by the liver) ever leaves the horse’s body.

I confess that I am more than a little concerned about the statements you make about cattle farmed/ ranchers using phenylbutazone in cows going to market. That means that any unsuspecting person could consume this dangerous drug. How would we know except from hearing from the pro-horse-slaughter crowd that perhaps the source of an illness of the blood, kidney, or cancer is tainted beef? What if cattle producers see this the way you do, and are feeding the public food that will rob people of their health?

This is troublesome.

The FDA vet is the vet in charge of testing drugs. When i sent them an email asking about withdrawl times, i was sent an email that stated ALL DRUGS even banned drugs have a withdrawl period. EVERY SINGLE ONE . The vets can go to the fda site and log in, get on this site that they told me about, ONLY VETS are allowed, and type in the drug and it will give you the time and date when that animal is safe to kill and eat. When i asked about the bute, they FLAT OUT SAID they have NEVER TESTED for it in horses because they are NOT a meat animal IN THEIR WORDS, they did say that they know that horses have been used as meat for yrs. They also stated that bute can’t be used in cattle over 20 months that are milking, BUT can be used for cattle for food, as long as they go by the withdrawl period.
GEESH why can’t you ppl understand that when the FDA states they have a withdrawl for EVERY SINGLE DRUG that they pass or check banned included.

AND christie FInn it has been PROVEN that in order to recieve enough bute by eating so called tainted meat you will have to eat over 100lbs at ONE SITTING to receive even a traceable amount.

BUTE MAY big word MAY cause cancer just like every other drug out there.

Daphne,

I respect you for researching this topic independently from the leaders of UH and UOH. I have been relying on information from the EU due to the fact that some countries in the EU consider horses food animals. Because their citizens do consume horse meat, the governmental regulatory agencies are much more concerned about the effects of drug residues in the tissues of horse meat.

I refer to an article by Peadar O. Scanaill, Chairman of the Animal Remedies Committee of Veterinary Ireland that appeared in Irish Veterinary Journal, Volume 63 Number 12, “Phenylbutazone and its availability in Ireland–prudent prescribing and dispensing”

“The difficulty with phenylbutazone is that it, or its metabolite, can cause aplastic anemia in children. If
child were to consume even the minutest amount of but or its metabolite then that child may develop
may develop aplastic anemia….Use your veterinary expertise and ethical behavior of the highest standards when prescribing the product. One child’s bone-marrow illness could be traced to a meat product which could be traced to an owner and a vet who prescribed bite…Almost 70% of equine medicine usage in veterinary practice consists of products not authorized for treatment of horses intended for human consumption (ref: Decha Veterinary Products booklet promoting responsible phenylbutazone use). If we cannot carry out prudent prescribing for penylbutazone then one wonders will we lose all the above0mentioned products also.”

Since Americans do not eat horse meat, the safety of horse meat for human consumption has not been a front burner issue for U. S. consumers, and therefore, not a pressing concern to the USDA. This makes sense and cents because if no one eats horse meat, then it is not the government’s concern to regulate drugs that are known to improve equine welfare (free from pain) if there is no threat to human welfare as a result.

However, the Irish consider horses athletes and food animals. From the moment of their birth, all horses are considered food animals. However, any drug administered to them must be recorded, and from the first administration of PBZ, it is forever removed from the food pipeline whether the owner of the horse likes it or not. Every horse must have an I. D. (passport), and the veterinarian is in charge of it. If a carcass of a horse tests positive for PBZ then it can be traced to the owner and the vet. I don’t know what the penalty is for the owner, but the vet could lose his or her license.

I have done preliminary investigation into your remarks regarding the USDA veterinarian. I would, however, like to have a name, phone number, and email address so I could ask my specific questions.

Clearly, you are thinking. I had no concern about horse slaughter before two years ago because I assumed that the horses were dead when they were slaughtered. However, even on the Veterinarians for Equine Welfare’s web site which is pretty sterile compared to the USDA’s FOIA report on US horse slaughter from January 2005 through November 2011, horses can be seen pawing at the air as they are approached by the worker preparing to slit their throats. During the bleeding out process, the fully conscious horse can be observed as his muscles gradually lose the muscular tension controlled by the autonomic nervous system until there is finally no movement at all, and the bleeding horse hangs limply upside down from the ceiling.

I haven’t traveled around YouTube trying to view videos of horse slaughter. I don’t follow links to videos from every blog about this subject for the purpose of seeing just how bad it is. I believe the USDA and the Veterinarians for Equine Welfare site are sufficient. However, Animal’s Angels has made a video from some of the footage that is very well done in a video entitled “A Horse’s Worst Nightmare.” This includes photos and video from the USDA report, and there is accompanying legal documentation. This video is more graphic than the VEW site, but not as all inclusive as the USDA’s report.

Daphne, since you are a thinking member of the pro-horse slaughter coalition, I think it would be most helpful for you to suggest to your peers that they reconsider their characterization of Equine Welfare Advocates as extreme radical animal rights people who oppose animal agriculture, do not understand animal agriculture, do not believe in animal agriculture, and are working to create a meatless society.

In truth, animal agriculture has more in common with equine welfare advocates than it does with most of the other groups of animal welfare advocacy. Since horses and burros live on farms and ranches, it is ridicules to suggest that equine welfare advocates know nothing about agriculture, animal agriculture, animal welfare or anything related to livestock as commodities. A number of equine advocates have degrees in agriculture. Involvement with horses is one of the reasons a lot of women get interested in agriculture as a possible business field.

One of the reasons I got involved in these debates is a result of seeing a photo on the BLM’s web site of a water hole obviously destroyed by cattle labeled as having been destroyed by horses. I was boarding on a farm that was used to board and train horses as well as to raise cattle. Every day of that hot summer, I passed the cows lying in algae covered pond water or dug in the mud around this pond while the horses grazed in the adjacent pasture. At times they sipped some water from the troth in their pasture, but then went back to grazing or standing under shade trees head to tail swatting each other’s flies. The photograph I refer to contained neither horses nor cattle. Moreover, it was not taken from a distance that would have allowed someone to look at the hoof prints or see the manure in order to gather more information. I remain skeptical to this day about everything else put out by the BLM that has anything at all to do with wild horses and burros.

If not for that photo, I might be doing something entirely different with my day than discussing PBZ and horse slaughter with you.

Sorry for the misspellings. I don’t know if they were the result of my trying to format the quotes differently, thus adding space and then removing some of it, the auto correct feature, or my own fingers missing the keys.

LYNN- why would i not send my LIVEESTOCK- my horses are NOT COMPANION animals they are my LIVESTOCK,, get it LIVESTOCK, i do NOT consider them pets nor companion animals. BUT to answer your question because I KNOW how to put that horse down humanely and process it FOR MYSELF, BUT If i had to sell them YES i would sell them directly to a slaughter house, IF after many moneths of trying to rehome them and couldnot. I feel that IMHO that a horse being utilized(slaughtered for food, rendered for dog food, is a much better dignified death then rotting in the ground

So you would feel alright that your horse was cut open to have its guts fall to the floor feeling the pain of a horse slaughter house? Really you would not want it to be at your own hand knowing you could do a better job killing your own horse by your own hand? Is the money you receive for selling your companion horse to a slaughter house worth his/her pain by being butchered alive? How much is money worth for the pain and suffering of an animal who has done nothing to you? We train them to trust us and then we send them away to be gutted alive? Does money mean that much? How much does a owner get for the blood of their animal? I do not understand how anyone can trade the love of their horse for money. I charish the last moments of my horse’s life as he died in my arms after being put down by a vet. I charish that I was the last thing he saw as he fell off to a permanent sleep in my arms knowing he was loved. That is the way a companion animal should be put to death in the arms of one who loved them or at least is a place where they do not hear the screams of pain from the horse who they had just met. We do not need their meat, we need to make their death meaningful but not for blood money. They are worth so much more then dog food. Horses have given us so much and their value is so much more then the price of dog food. That is just disgusting to think that they have been so devalued to be worth the amount of dog food.
By the way, dog food makers have not used horse in dog food since the 70’s because dogs were dieing fron eating it. So I know you really didn’t mean that. Horses mean so much more to people and 80% of American’s respect them so much more then just for meat. I think the pro-slaughter people will have a real battle to make the case for eating American horses.

Yes Lynnll The many people that I have talked to would not eat horsemeat they would not be eating their best friends. Horses do learn to trust humans than the people send them to slaughter. I DON”T THINK SO!!! Something wrong with that picture!! The polls show the American people do not want Horse slaughter in the USA!!! Americans don’t eat horses!!!! They are not raised for food!!!!

They keep saying horse slaughter is humane that’s impossible it will never be. My horses died with love with me, that’s what I call humane when the horse dies knowing he/she had love not brutal horse slaughter some strange place that scares them. Horses do have feelings I know they do!!! NO to horse slaughter and horse slaughter plants here in the USA!!!!

LYNNL- my horses are not anymore special then others, its just I KNOW who im selling them to. BUT once they are sold they no longer belong to me, so that new owner can do whatever they want to with that horse. BUT out of all the horses I have sold and there have been many , there is only 2 that i do not know where they went.

as for me helping my friend kill his horses that he RAISES to fill his freezer, there is NOTHING wrong with that at all. NO ONE said you have to kill horses, he does because he WANTS to feed his family, I go over and help him process the horse, BIG DEAL i know how to process deer, cattle, hogs, goats, horses, etc.

as for me killing horses, YEP i have because it was MY JOB to. IN order for me to graduate I had to work in an area that I chose, I chose to work and LEARN about slaughter houses, I not only worked the stun box, i worked with the persons in charge of hanging,bleeding, skinning, and processing.
lets go over this again. shall we
said horse enters the kill box, horse is shot with a gun or a penatrating captive bolt which either (gun kills instantly) or renders the horse brain dead. Horse is hung , checked to see if horse is dead, bled out, moved down the line to the skinning and what not, then moved to be processed.
99% of the time the horse is dead, there is that 1% that the horse needs to be hit more then once.

NOW i not only stuned horses, I did cattle, hogs, lambs, goats, chicken and one buffalo. does that make me a killer HELL NO, that makes me a person who has worked hands on in a slaughter house, and a person that understand WHY LIVESTOCK are slaughtered.

So, Daphne. The slaughterhouse plant you worked at must have had a 100% stun rate. Wow, that’s impressive and also absolutely not possible.
The FOUR videos from the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition that showed horse slaughter by both .22 rifle and captive bolt showed many, many instances of horses being conscious when hauled into the butchering area.
We keep beating (pardong the pun) this subject to death. It has been proven over and over again that assembly-line killing of horses is inhumane and does not work. End of discussion.

Give it a rest DAPHNE WE WILL NEVER AGREE WITH YOU HORSE SLAUGHTER IS INHUMANE AND CRUEL!!! End of story!!!

@heather- If you read the pro side WE ALL AGREE that the horse that was hit 11 times was WRONG, BUT taht doesn’t happen all the time. YOu know what I have better things to do then agure with stupid ppl that only want to see what they want and DO NOT want to see what CAN be. GOODBYE i am done on this topic, you all give me a headache cause its like talking to a brick wall

Daphne You will not change us so give up you be happy eating horsemeat We will be trying to save the horses people throw away. Those horses deserve a life after all they have done for people thru the years.

There are lots of things that we don’t understand when this happens. It isn’t like the horses are becoming scrap metal in Vancouver or anything. Well, they would be trash if they didn’t use it all, but I’ll bet they do use it all. The way they slaughter cows is very humane and I’ll bet they do the same thing with horses. The only people who kill animals for fun are hunters, but even they eat or sell the meat and use the other parts somehow. P.S. When you call someone stupid or an idiot online, it just shows how uneducated you are because you can’t calmly and intelligently argue your point while still acknowledging the usual validity of the other side.

Horses are flight animals by nature and horse slaughter for them will NEVER BE HUMANE! Even the experts have said so. Killing horses is so WRONG!!!

Slaughtering horses is just WRONG— end of story!

I hope we can get horse slaughter banned this New Year!